The Training and Education Needs of Emergency Medicine Doctors working in Rural and Regional Australia

For professional and lifestyle reasons, most specialist doctors (including emergency medicine specialists) choose to live and work in major metropolitan centres. In rural and regional hospitals, emergency presentations are generally dealt with by 'non-specialist' doctors, often with limited peer support and minimal specialist backup. Recruitment of suitably trained medical staff for rural and regional hospitals is increasingly difficult. The doctors working in the emergency departments of these smaller hospitals are a mix of junior medical staff, Career Medical Officers, short term locums, and part time General Practitioners - with a high reliance on overseas trained doctors from widely varying backgrounds. While undergraduate and general practice training in rural areas has been extensively studied, there has been relatively little attention given to postgraduate specialty training and few studies on adverse events and health outcomes in rural areas.